John C. Bowling - Above All Else. 20 Years of Baccalaureate Sermons

Copyright 2012 by John C. Bowling and Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City

2012 eISBN 978-0-8341-2860-6

Cover Design: J.R. Caines
Interior Design: Sharon Page

Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, NewInternational Version (NIV). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scripture marked KJV is from the King James Version.

Permission to quote from the following copyrighted versions of the Bible is acknowledged with appreciation.

The New King James Version (NKJV). Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.

The Message (TM). Copyright 1993. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

To Jill, who has proofread,
listened to, and lived these messages
with me throughout the years

Contents

I recently reached the twenty-year mark as president of Olivet Nazarene University. This occasion has given me an opportunity to think back across two decades of life on a university campus. Being a university president is a demanding way of lifebut is equally rewarding. For me, the best part of these years has been the interaction I have had with students from all over the world.

Each fall students arrive on campus with hopes and dreams, along with a fair measure of anxiety mixed in as well; but little by little as they settle into campus life, they begin to find themselves and find their wayacademically, socially, and spiritually. It is a rich privilege to interact with these young men and women as they walk the tightrope from late adolescence to adulthood. There is a wonderful cadence and cycle to university life that brings renewal each year as seniors graduate and freshmen matriculate.

I have seen firsthand that Christian higher education has the capacity to leave its mark on students in a distinctive way. All colleges and universities have influence, but it is the Christian university that has a particularly unique opportunity. These schools rest on the deep conviction that higher education ought to have a higher purpose. That purpose is the intentional integration of faith, learning, and living.

At Olivet, and scores of schools like it, the combining of a rigorous academic program and a vibrant campus life with a deep and genuine spiritual commitment produces a learning environment that moves beyond education per se. It produces a setting where lives can be transformed. Students on such campuses not only prepare to make a living but more importantly learn how to live.

The place of faith in the learning process at a Christian college or university goes well beyond the institutional name on the sign or a fading historic tie to a denomination or a polite nod in the direction of religion. This faith integration is part of the very DNA of such schools. Christian colleges and universities seek to apply scriptural admonitions such as Study to shew thyself approved unto God (2 Tim. 2:15, KJV) and Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30) to the daily work of teaching and learning.

The integration of faith and learning takes many forms. The most significant place for this to happen is in the classroom as bright and gifted teachers tie their respective disciplines to the story of God at work in the world. This academic integration is vital. The arts, sciences, and humanities, along with various professional programs, can each be a canvas where Gods grace and wonder is seen. Faith integration is also transformative at a personal level as a scholar/teacher shares her or his faith in the context of a classroom lecturefor faith is caught, as well as taught.

Across the years, as thousands of young men and women have come and gone from this campus, one thing I have noticed is that there are moments along the way when students suddenly seem to get it; a light goes on and they see life as it really is and begin to take stock of what is most important in life. It is in those aha moments that they begin to more earnestly respond to the call of God on their lives. This is the part of the Christian college experience that sets a trajectory for life and eternity.

In addition to the classroom, faith integration finds expression in chapel services, mission trips, student service projects, and in the various high-profile public events of the university. One such event is the annual, or on some campuses semiannual, commencement convocations where students and their families join with faculty and staff, along with trustees and other guests, to celebrate the accomplishments of the graduating class. It is in this context where a baccalaureate service finds its proper place.

The origins of the baccalaureate service lie in a 1432 Oxford University statute, which required each bachelor to deliver a sermon in Latin as part of his academic exercise. These days most public universities refrain from any institutional displays of worship altogether. However, many private Christian colleges and universities continue the tradition.

The messages in this book represent a score of opportunities that I have had to say to students, Carry on with confidence, knowing that God will go with them into the future. For the Christian college graduate, commencement says, This is what I know, but it is baccalaureate that declares, This is who I am.

The messages are arranged in the order they were delivered, beginning in May 1992 through May 2011. The historical and cultural references within the different messages reflect the year in which they were presented.

The world has changed in many ways across these two decades. I was already president the first time I heard of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Our ubiquitous cell phones of today were still on the drawing boards, and texting and tweeting were a long way off. I began my work as president a decade before 9/11. We had never heard of al-Qaeda. It was prior to the Monica Lewinsky affair. The assault on the traditional family was still emerging. Gay rights were a fringe subject. The full impact of postmodern thinking had not yet been felt.

As I look back across that landscape of change, how thankful I am that each year, before our graduates walked the campus for the last time, I was able to remind them of a higher purpose and a higher calling. Each spring, I had one last opportunity to assure them that God was the same, yesterday, today, and forever and that they could therefore embrace their unfolding futures with hope and assurance.

Because the setting and subtext of baccalaureate remains essentially the same from year to year, there are some phrases that recur here and there throughout the sermon series. Although somewhat repetitive when taken as a whole, these references have been left in so that each message would stand on its own.

While well suited for the college or university graduate, the collective truth of these messages speaks to young and old alike. Life is filled with commencements. Each one of us graduates day by day to new opportunities and challenges. How important it is to keep in mind the wonderful promises of God which declare:

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion (Phil. 1:6).

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed (Prov. 16:3).

I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut (Rev. 3:8).